October 14, 2011

Above: Haus-Rucker-Co. (Günther Zamp Kelp, Laurids Ortner, and Klaus Pinter; Austria, 1967–92), Flyhead Helmet, from the Environment Transformer project, 1968

The urban landscape produces feelings of anxiety, fear, pleasure, and excitement. Join Kaja Kühl, founder and principal of youarethecity, as she brings together psychologists and urban design experts to create interventions that alter our urban sensory experience. How do scent, sound, taste, sight, and touch influence our feelings of comfort or discomfort in public space? How do we design for a happier experience of space? Participants will create temporary installations to alter the experience of the sites surrounding the Lab.

Photo: used by permission under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0  License from
maiabee

 

Leaving from: any point in New York 
Traveling to: across New York 
Mode of transportation: walking, rain or shine 

Go viral with creative consulting and design collaborative spurse as they launch a special edition of MATR, their latest phone app, which they will use to lead participants in a three-hour game across New York. MATR is an interactive sound experiment that changes as you move. But what happens when “you” are no longer a single individual, but a crowd of hundreds, or even thousands? How will you move, and where? Unlike most rule-bound games, MATR promises to trip the outcome in unexpected ways. Where will the game lead us, who will we encounter, and more interestingly, what sort of event will this make? For the final research endeavor in the Live Feeds series, become part of a massive, self-organizing, and fully emergent swarm to celebrate—and shepherd in—a future model of how change happens.

Step 1: RSVP so that we can contact you with up-to-the-minute news about the game.

Step 2: Download the MATR app to your smartphone (iPhone or Android). It’s free! Please remember to use earphones.

Step 3: Begin the game at 2 pm, wherever you are in New York, and end the game at 5 pm in a totally unexpected place!

Photo used by permission under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) License from divya.

Last year, first- and second-grade students at the Neighborhood School in Manhattan took part in a multidisciplinary moviemaking study as a lens to look at community. Along with thinking about film crew roles, interdependence, and the community of filmmakers who collaborate to create a film, they looked at diverse genres and film history. By the end, they had created their own student films!

This year’s seasoned class, in partnership with the BMW Guggenheim Lab, has created a site-specific movie on the theme of confronting comfort in the city. Please join us for a screening of the Master Kids Film Festival and the premiere of the film Comfy, directed, shot, and edited by children.

Image: courtesy Alexis Neider

Join us for a variety show dedicated to the sounds of New York, organized by Audio Visual Arts (AVA) and comedian Greg Barris. Acoustic experts and sound artists will collaborate with comedians to explore the beauty, danger, and potential of the New York soundscape, addressing issues of noise pollution, noise prevention, sonic comfort levels, and quiet zones along the way. There will be sonic demonstrations. There will be audience participation. There will be music, and there will be laughs.

Host: Greg Barris
Comedian: Jim Gaffigan
Sound Specialist: Mason Wyatt from City Soundproofing
Comedian: Heather Lawless
Special Guests
Music by Forgiveness

Image: courtesy Justin Luke

Videos from the Event:

George Prochnik at the Sound Sweep

Alexandre Tannous at the Sound Sweep

Reggie Watts at the Sound Sweep